Overhead rail systems



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Sheet Filed Nov. 29, 1966 w km W W M w W at QM .ll \mlwu M W m MQ l MM f W O d L W vm fl Wm hm N @v L .m J Am om H hm J United States Patent 3,426,699 OVERHEAD RAIL SYSTEMS James W. ODonnell, Main St., Plympton, Mass. 02367 Filed Nov. 29, 1966, Ser. No. 597,748 US. Cl. 10493 2 Claims Int. Cl. B61b 13/04; E01b 25/26 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to overhead rail systems for use in loading and unloading vehicles at a warehouse or store platform, the vehicle body having a side door serviced by the rail system.

As an example of the use of overhead rail systems for vehicles, reference is made to the transportation of meat in trucks from warehouses to stores. The bodies of the trucks and trailers used in such deliveries are equipped with a series of parallel overhead storage rails extending transversely of the truck or trailer body with switches enabling each to be connected to a main overhead rail extending lengthwise of the body at one side thereof and accessible when the rear doors of the body are open. The main rail is a loading or unloading rail and its end, exposed when the rear doors are open, is provided with means enabling a connecting rail system at the warehouse or store to be detachably connected thereto while a meat shipment is being loaded or unloaded.

The carriers used in such systems are wheeled for support by the track and each has an arm depending at one side and provided with load-carrying hooks at its lower end.

Such rail systems have proved satisfactory in use where the truck or trailer body may be backed into loading or unloading position at a platform. Where, however, the load-receiving door of a store opens into an alley, unloading remains a problem since the meat must be transferred through a side door of the truck or trailer body. At the present time, such side door deliveries are slow, laborious operations and, in addition, the necessity for so doing makes it essential to arrange the load in a particular manner.

The principal objective of the present invention is to provide a rail system enabling side door deliveries and loadings to be made with maximum ease and convenience. In accordance with the invention, this objective is attained by providing a pair of loading and unloading rails extending at right angles to the main rail and leading to a side door of the body of the vehicle. Each of the pair of rails terminates short of the main rail to permit the passage of the load-carrying arms of the carrier along the main rail as they are moved from one side of the pair of rails to the other side thereof. A switch is provided for each rail of the pair of rails and it is positionable to enable a carrier to pass through it along the main rail and positionable to enable a carrier to pass through it along the appropriate one of the pair of rails from the main rail in one direction, and to block a carrier approaching in the opposite direction along the main rail. The load-carrying arms of the carriers depend on the remote side of each of the pair of .rails and a common depending support interconnects their proximate sides.

In the accompanying drawings, there is shown an illustrative embodiment of the invention from which these and other of its objectives. novel features, and advantages will be apparent.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a vehicle body provided with a rail section in accordance with the invention,

FIGURE 2 is a section, on an increased scale taken approximately along the indicated lines 2-2 of FIGURE 1, and

FIGURE 3 is a section, on the scale of FIGURE 2, taken approximately along the indicated lines 3-3 of FIGURE 1.

In FIGURE 1, the truck body 5 is shown as having transverse parallel beams '6 secured at one end to the side wall of the body 5 by a bracket 7 and at the other end to the undersurface of an arm 8 anchored to the other side wall as by a bracket 9. Each beam 6 has a storage rail 10 extending along one side of its bottom edge.

A beam 11, extending lengthwise of the body 5 adjacent one side thereof is connected to the arms 8 by hangers 12. The beams 6 and their storage rails 10 terminate short of the beam 9 which has a loading and unloading rail 13 extending along the side thereof that is proximate the storage rails .10 and lying in the same plane, the hangers 12 being secured to the opposite side of the beam 11.

Each storage rail 10 is shown as having its end that is proximate the loading and unloading rail 13 curved as at 10A and there is a gap in the rail 13 adjacent the free end of the curve |10A. Switches, generally indicated at 14 are provided to connect the storage rails 10 to the loading and unloading rails 13 and while these may be of other types, they are shown as made in accordance with United States Letters Patent No. 3,204,575, dated Sept. 7, 1965. Each switch 14 includes a bed 15 wider than the beam 11 and provided with a central, depend ing stem 16 rotatably and slidably confined in a sleeve 17 secured to the beam 11 on the side thereof that is opposite the rail 13. The stem 16 is of such length that the switch may be raised from a position of use, in which the bed 15 rests on the beam 11 into an elevated position in which it may be turned into another position of use when again seated on the beam 11 in its new position.

Such vertical movement is necessary because the bed has a rail portion 18 extending along one edge with its lower part 19A engaging the side of the beam 11 when the switch 14 is in a position in which the rail portion 18 fills a gap in the rail 13 and because the bed 15 also has a curved rail portion 19 extending along its opposite edge with its lower part 19A engaging the side of the beam 11 when the switch 14 is positioned with the rail portion 19 closing the gap between the curved storage rail end 10A and the rail 13 at the appropriate end of a gap therein. In addition, the bed 15 is provided with centrally located, depending stops 20 and 21, which engages the opposite side of the beam 11 in either switch position to cooperate with the then operatively positioned rail portion in preventing unwanted switch movement. For convenience in switch operation, the stop 21 is of substantial length and is L-shaped both to provide a handle accessible from below and to provide an indication of the set switch position. The bed 15 has a member 22 on its upper surface so disposed that when the switch 14 is set to connect the loading and unloading rail 13 to a storage rail 10, the rail 13 is blocked on the open side of that switch.

Each carrier, generally indicated at 23 is shown as having a track-engaging wheel 24 carried by a U-shaped frame 25, one arm 26 of which depends and has hooks 27 secured to its end. Such a carrier requires that the rails permit the arm 26 to depend from corresponding 3 sides and that the system be without obstructions on those sides.

Trailer bodies usually have at least one and often two doors in their right hand walls. One such door is indicated at 28 in FIGURE 1. As stated, the general objective of the invention is to enable loadings and unloadings, particularly unloadings to be made via such a side door.

In accordance with the invention, this objective is attained by supporting a beam 29 by brackets 30 transversely of the body 10 at each door 28.

A pair of rails 31 and 32 are secured in closely spaced relationship and parallel to the storage rails 10 by hangers 33 and 34 spaced lengthwise of and secured to the beam 29. Each of the hangers is in the form of an inverted T with its head connected to the proximate sides of the rails 31 and-32 below their upper edges, the depending carrier arms 26 passing along the remote faces of the rails 31 and 32. The ends of the rails 31 and 32 remote from the door 28 are spaced from the loading and unloading rail 13 and are oppositely curved as at 31A and 32A, respectively, and interconnected by the hanger 34. The rail 13 has gaps adjacent each curved rail end and switches 14 are employed to connect the rails 31 and 32 to the main rail 13.

At their outer ends, the rails 31 and 32 have supports 35 to enable an unloading arm 36 at the platform to be detachably attached thereto as by a pivot 37.

It will thus be apparent that a rail system in accordance with the invention is well adapted to meet all requirements where side door loadings and unloadings are necessary. The system is easy to install even with a body already equipped with a system providing for rear door loading and unloading and as the pair of rails may be used for storage, these objectives are achieved without loss of storage space.

I claim:

1. In an overhead rail system for wheeled carriers of the type having a depending, load carrying arm and for use in trailer and like bodies having a side door, a main rail extending lengthwise of one side of the body, a pair of loading and unloading rails extending at right angles to said main rail and leading to said door, each of said pair of rails terminating short of said main rail, the load carrying arms of the carriers depending on the side of the main rail adjacent said pair of rails, a switch for each of said pair of rails positionable to enable carriers to pass through it along the main rail and positionable to enable a carrier to pass through it and along the appropriate one of said pair of rails from the main rail in one direction and to block a carrier approaching in the Opposite direction along the main rail, the load carrying arms of the carrier depending on the remote side of each of said pairs of rails, and a common depending support for said pair of rails interconnecting their proximate sides, said support including a member extending from side-to-side of the body and anchored thereto, and a plurality of depending inverted T-shaped members spaced along the member and secured thereto and interconnecting the pair of rails below their upper edge.

2. The overhead rail system of claim 1 in which the member extends across the main rail in vertically spaced relationship thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 445.060 1/1891 Jarvis l04l00 X 3,084,635 4/1963 Withers l04'l0l X 3,204,575 9/1965 ODonnell 10499 ARTHUR L. LAPOINT, Primary Examiner. DANIEL F. WORTH, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. l0489 

